Expecto Patronum
by shimotsuki11
Summary: Remus and Tonks have dinner at the Potters' after seeing Teddy off on the Hogwarts Express. James and Al are full of questions, including one that not even Harry knows the answer to. Remus/Tonks, Harry/Ginny, James, Albus, Lily. AU, in the "By a Thread" ficverse.


_**Expecto Patronum**_

_1 September, 2011_

When Remus stepped out of the Floo into the kitchen at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, a small red-headed tornado barrelled into him and latched onto his knees.

"Remus! Remus!"

"Hello, Lily Luna!" He detached her, laughing, and scooped her up in his arms instead. "Let's get out of the way before—"

"Oof!" Dora came spinning through the green flames and smacked right into them from behind.

Lily started giggling. Remus automatically shifted her to one hip and turned to steady his wife with the other arm, giving her a subtle little squeeze around the waist and earning a smile in return.

"Hullo!" Ginny called from across the kitchen, where she was Charming chocolate frosting onto a tall cake with jam between the layers.

"That was quite the entrance." Harry, grinning broadly, came over to clap Remus on the back and give Dora a kiss on the cheek. "Teddy off all right on the Hogwarts Express?"

Footsteps clattered down the stairs, and James appeared. "Hi, Remus! Hi, Tonks! Here, hold this!" He thrust a small Muggle fire-truck toy into Dora's hand and darted to the other side of the room, evincing deep interest in Ginny and the cake.

Al made his own noisy entrance, looking thoroughly disgruntled. "James, I _know_ you've got it—oh!" He slid to a stop in front of Dora. "James gave you that, just now. Didn't he!"

Dora raised an eyebrow and handed over the fire truck. "Allow me to return your property."

"James," said Harry, with only the slightest edge to his voice.

"Al wasn't _using_ it." James was the picture of innocence.

"You _ask_ before you play with something that isn't yours," said Ginny firmly. "Now, both of you, come and set the table."

They all settled into their usual places around one end of the long kitchen table that used to hold the whole Order of the Phoenix—and still did sometimes, for holiday parties.

"Mum said to thank you for the invitation," said Dora, "but her mahjong club meets tonight, so she went straight home from King's Cross."

"I suppose Teddy made the train?" Ginny's smile was impish. "Unlike _some_ people."

"Hey," Harry grinned. "That was my _second_ year."

"Teddy is in _third_ year this year." James, who at six years old was fascinated by all things Hogwarts—and all things Teddy—obviously felt compelled to clarify.

Remus found himself glancing at Harry, only to catch Harry looking back at him. They shared a quick smile.

"_My_ third year," said Harry, in his best storytelling voice, "was when I first met Remus."

That hadn't really been the _first_ time, of course, and Remus felt the familiar pang of regret for missing Harry's childhood that would never entirely fade. But Harry's own expression held nothing but fond reminiscence. And Harry was Teddy's godfather, and he and Dora were godparents to Lily. They were all as good as family, now.

"That was when you taught Defence Against the Dark Arts, right?" James gazed at Remus from across the table. "And you taught Dad to cast a Patronus!"

"That's right," said Remus, more than a little amused at finding himself part of James's Hogwarts-lore.

"Dad's Patronus is a stag," James recited. "Like what Grandpa James turned into."

"Could I please have some more potatoes, Tonks?" asked Al. "And Remus, what's _your_ Patronus? Dad never said."

"Al," said Harry, carefully, with a worried glance in Remus's direction, "it's really not polite to ask about someone's Patronus."

"But, Dad, Remus knows what _yours_ is—"

"It's fine, Harry," said Remus. He set down his fork and pulled out his wand, smiling at the little boy who looked more like Prongs than Prongs's own namesake did. "Watch carefully, Al. _Expecto Patronum_." It still astonished him, sometimes, how easy it was to conjure a Patronus these days. "Can you tell what it is?"

"Wolf!" said Lily, gleefully.

It floated over to her and sniffed at her hair. She giggled and tried to pet it.

"Or, is it a werewolf?" asked Al, leaning over to see it better. The Potter children all knew about Remus's condition, of course, but they took their cues from Harry and Ginny and treated it as an ordinary part of life. Thanks to the Wolfsbane potion, and the gradual repeal of most of the restrictive laws, that was actually closer to the truth than Remus had ever expected it to be.

"Do you know how to tell the difference between a wolf and a werewolf?" he asked.

Al shook his head. James did, too.

"The most obvious difference," Remus explained, falling easily into teaching mode, "is that a werewolf has a tuft on the end of its tail. What have we got here?"

"I can't get a good look." Al frowned. The Patronus had ducked under the table, investigating crumbs.

"Let's have another one, then." Remus smiled a little. "Dora, would you mind?"

"_Expecto Patronum_," she said, amiably, before spearing another sprout.

The first silver wolf came out from under the table as soon as the second one appeared. The two sniffed noses, and then the tails began to wag, great soft plumes.

"A tuft is what a lion's tail has, isn't it?" said Al. "So these are wolves, not werewolves."

"Well done," said Remus. Al was as sharp as James, even if he wasn't quite as boastful about it. "In any case, a corporeal Patronus most often takes the shape of a true animal, and a werewolf isn't exactly an animal."

By now, the wolves were play-wrestling a bit in the middle of the kitchen, and Remus had lost track of which was which. One of them gave a silent yip before they dissolved into silver mist and faded away.

Grinning a little at the wolves' antics, Remus took a sip of wine. But when he set his goblet down, he saw that Harry was gaping at him.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," said Harry, hastily. "Only—Molly told me once that she'd never seen you cast a corporeal Patronus. I'd always thought that was odd, since _you_ taught _me_ how."

"Ah," said Remus. Dora's hand found his, under the table. "Molly would have seen my Patronus during the war. At that point, I still had—" Dora squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back—"rather uncomfortable associations with the form it takes, you see. So I would usually just cast a non-corporeal one and have done with it."

"It's true that your Patronus is a little ironic," said Ginny, with an eyebrow raised.

"Maybe," said Dora. "But _mine_ thinks his is cute."

The smile his wife gave him warmed Remus all through.

"I want to learn the Patronus Charm," James announced. "Will you teach me, Remus? Like you taught Dad?"

"Ask me again when _you_ are a third year at Hogwarts," said Remus with a grin, "and we'll see."

"Now," said Ginny, "who would like some cake?"

~ _fin_ ~

* * *

**_Author's notes:_** This ficlet was inspired by some information recently released on Pottermore, to the effect that Remus's Patronus was a wolf, and he found this distressing, generally choosing to cast a non-corporeal Patronus instead. It's rather heartbreaking to think that Remus couldn't stand his own Patronus, when that is supposed to be an embodiment of happiness and protection. So I like to think that, given a chance at happier circumstances, he would eventually come to see his poor Patronus in a different light.


End file.
